Global Family Doctor

WONCA is an unusual, yet convenient acronym comprising the first five initials of the World Organization of National Colleges, Academies and Academic Associations of General Practitioners/Family Physicians.

Professor Barbara Starfield championed the value and need of strong primary health care systems worldwide. This collection emphasizes the case for primary care and includes a number of Barbara Starfield's own articles as well as other key related material.

Newsletter: September 2016

The Cook Islands Fellowship in General Practice training program aims to create a workforce of well-trained family doctors to serve the future health care needs of the people of the Cook Islands, and is part of a wonderful collaboration between the Ministry of Health and the Ministry of Education in the Cook Islands, the Royal New Zealand College of General Practitioners and New Zealand’s University of Otago.

WONCA is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Goodfellow Unit of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. As a result we will be promoting an educational resource "GoodFellow Gems" which are produced by the Goodfellow Unit.

Well known WONCA identity and past chair of the Working Party on Mental Health, Prof Gabriel Ivbijaro MBE is now President of the World Federation for Mental Health, and has a new blog in the Huffington Post. His latest is reproduced here courtesy of the Huffington Post.

WHO is conducting a global survey on the use of computed tomography (CT) in asymptomatic individuals for individual health assessment to gather information on the current status of this practice, and results are to be presented in Rio.

On 28 May 2016 at the Sixty-ninth World Health Assembly, WHO Member States officially adopted the Framework on integrated people-centred health services (IPCHS) and its resolution on “Strengthening integrated, people-centred health services”, formally giving the WHO Secretariat the mandate to work on this new programmatic area.

The Czech Society of General Practice will be the host organization for the 22nd WONCA Europe Conference, which will be held in Prague from 28th June to 1st July 2017, and they have informed us that abstract submission is now open.

I am going to suggest we could do one thing better with the rich resources of our members. We could have more focused ‘big conversations’ on some of the key topics for our discipline. We have many policy experts in our community, and many of the MOs are writing papers and strategies regularly for use in their own country.

Have you heard about the "Rural Health Stories" set up by a partnership of WONCA Rural South Asia (WoRSA) and the World Rural Medicine Students Network. This month we note that WONCA’s President Elect, Prof Amanda Howe has submitted a very lovely poem "Human Kindness".

The Czech Society of General Practice will be the host organization for the 22nd WONCA Europe Conference, which will be held in Prague from 28th June to 1st July 2017, and they have informed us that abstract submission is now open.

Family Medicine for America is a collaboration between the USA’s eight leading family medicine organizations. It has launched a national three-year campaign, Health is Primary, to raise awareness of the role of primary care in the health care system and demonstrate its value in delivering on the Triple Aim of better health, better care and lower costs.

WONCA is pleased to announce a new partnership with the Goodfellow Unit of the University of Auckland in New Zealand. As a result we will be promoting an educational resource "GoodFellow Gems" which are produced by the Goodfellow Unit.

PEARLS are an independent product of the Cochrane primary care group and are meant for educational use and not to guide clinical care. Next month we begin a relationship with the Goodfellow Unit of the University of Auckland which will see us promote their "Goodfellow Gems" another clinical resource.

Applications close November 4, 2016 for the the AFMC Charles Boelen International Social Accountability Award. The Association of Faculties of Medicine of Canada (AFMC) last year announced a new award - the AFMC Charles Boelen International Social Accountability Award. Named after Dr Charles Boelen, a world leader in Social Accountability, it aims to celebrate people or organizations whose professional accomplishments are reflective of the principles of social accountability.